All right Miami!!! It is official. The final piece of the puzzle, the icing on the cake, the cherry on the sundae has been made. Your basketball team is officially the Super HEAT of South Beach, Miami… at least on paper. That is because the 3 top picks of the 1993 draft will sign with the Miami Heat.

Lebron James made it official at about 9:25 PM on Thursday July 8, after Bosh and Wade had committed a day earlier.

W: Dwyane Wade

Wade, nicknamed Flash or otherwise known as D-Wade, agreed to re-sign with the Heat… terms estimated at 6 years $125 million US dollars. The 28 year old Wade was the #5 pick of the 1993 draft and has carried the Heat to a championship in 2006, when he was 24 years old.

B: Chris Bosh

Bosh, nicknamed CB4, agreed he cannot win a championship by himself and agreed to come to Miami, estimated at 5 years $96 million. The #4 pick of the 2003 draft, Bosh ended up in Toronto with the Raptors and didn’t taste as much success as his other two brethren but decided to roll with his boys into South Beach to enjoy the wild ride.

J: Lebron James

And now, a few minutes ago, Lebron James has agreed to come to “South Beach and join Bosh and Wade.”

Everyone knows King James or LBJ. He was the #1 pick of the 2003 draft straight out of high school. The man was more matured than the typical 18 year old. Over the years, he’s had lots of individual success and accolades but fewer team successes than he would like… like an NBA championship or 2 or … 6, for example. Only time will tell if his last-minute 1-hour announcment (obviously orchestrated by ESPN) on Thursday will manifest itself into the type of success he is looking for. As the 25 year old James said, “I just want to win.”

Conclusions?

This is the making of a 3-man super team, just better than the Celtics when they signed Garnett, Pierce, and Allen together.

So, after this, thr Heat should have 4 men under contract (the fourth being Chalmers) because Beasley is probably included in a trade to Toronto for Bosh. They still have to sign their 3 draft picks bringing it up to 7 players. So they will still need at least another 5 players for minimum to just above-minimum contracts. Anyone of you Yawdies with any game who are willing to go to Heat camp and play for a small $250K or so?

Let’s see how this plays out and if it translates into sold-out arena, playoffs, and championships in Miami.

The semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup is set. In are European powerhouses Spain and Germany, The Netherlands, and the lone South American team, Uruguay. Uruguay, if you reacall, got to this stage by defeating South Korea on penalty kicks in the round of 16 and then doing the same to Ghana in the round of 8.

The matchups

Diego Maradona : The Hand Of God

In the 1986 World Cup match between England and Argentina, Diego Maradona tipped the ball over the goalie’s head into the net with his hand, and it was given a goal. It was thereafter named the “Hand of God” goal after Maradona himself so named it.

Bob Green: The Hand of Clod

When England tied with the USA (June 2010 World Cup group stage match) because of the goalie, Bob Green, allowing a very very very weak ball to pass him and score, the British papers labeled him “The Hand Of Clod”. He was replaced for subsequent matches.

Keep your head up young man. Don’t let this be the end of your international showing as a goalie.

Luis Suarez: The Hero with the Volleyball Hands wins it for Uruguay

With the second of 2 overtime periods expiring, Ghana’s kick allowed 3 shots at goal. Two were taken off the line, the last of which was a deliberate volleyball two-hand block by Luis Suarez standing on the goal line. This was the best play of the match because, thought he got a red card and was sent off, time had expired. If he didn’t swat it, Ghana wins 2-1. However, it took his chances on the resulting penalty kick which hit the top of the bar and went out.

Asamoah Gyan: The Goat or From Hero to Zero

Asamoah Gyan of Ghana missed the penalty with the game out of time to send the game against Uruguay into penalty kicks which they lost 4-2. The hero of the US vs Ghana game a few days earlier, Gyan played well against Uruguay only to miss the penalty with time running out after the Uruguay player played volleyball to swat the ball off the line.
The Ghanans bombarded the Uruguay defense with three shots in rapid succession, one punched away by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, another bouncing off a defender, and the last one hit away purposely by Luis Suarez standing on the goal line.

Keep your head up young man. You have a very bright future.

In other News

Brazil loses 2-1 to The Netherlands (Holland). Leading 1-0, most people expected the usual Brazil win. But an “own goal” with the keeper error leveled things. Next was a brilliant goal off a corner kick where the first Netherlands player headed it backwards to his man whose header found the back of the net.